Pages

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

rest

Summer is generally seen as a time of rest, but I feel like I've gotten very little rest on a day-to-day basis this summer. I think having the kids home and up from 7am (or before) until 8-9-10+pm with hardly any break during the day (no regular naps here!) has been taxing on me (and Moose from the sudden bouts of tears over any little thing these days).

As the kids continue to butt heads and I find myself on the losing end of sleep, God has really shown me the importance of rest.

Rest.

Does that word make you crave it or fight against it? Rest is so important to us and I think we try to stay away from it and act like we don't need it. Sleep is for the weak! Wrong! God, the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth, our constant companion and protector, rested. He rested.

My friend Stacey wrote a few weeks ago about "Sabbath daily" - oh how I needed to hear that.
I am reading "Twirl" by Patsy Clairmont & there's a whole chapter on rest in there.
A devotional from "She Reads Truth" was about resting.

I'm not good at resting. I tend to fill up quiet with tv or reading (or the occasional talking to myself...I mean, talking to God out loud). It's very seldom I just sit and even more seldom that I sit outside, which is really where I feel most connected to God. This morning I was outside for my Bible study and got to see - even if for the moment - the most perfect piece of sunrise. I was out the other morning to work out and saw the best-looking moon. Those are the times when I feel like God is so real I could touch Him.

And yet, I forget. In the day to day, I get caught up in my weariness. Instead of heading to where my heart deeply craves, I take the easy way out. To moving, doing, making, baking, calling, writing, scrolling, texting, surfing (the web), checking, re-checking, emailing, reading, watching. When I forget I need to "be still."

In that stillness I know He is there, waiting. Waiting to love on me. Waiting to teach me. Waiting to take on my burdens. Waiting to engulf me in peace. Waiting.

So I wait no more. Off to heal and build up and wait and listen and learn and love and be.